Texas Ordering all girls to have cancer vaccine

[Steff]

No one is screaming, the opposition are the ones that think the Governor shouldn't have made it a law. So I guess you are complaining about people who don't exist.

 

Don't bother answering who should make the decision , the Governor or the individual. It was rhetorical.

 

 

Lots of people, men and women, are screaming about the vaccination itself - which would bring potential relief to MILLIONS of females who SUFFER. I was specific in making a statement regarding the pain of cervical and uterin cancer.

 

 

And let me also add that anyone who has read my posts or met me for for than 5 minutes would have to be a complete moron to think that I would support someone forcing another human being to do something against their will that does not relate to obeying the law or the immediate saving of a life.

[southsideirish71]

My wife is an oncology nurse and she has seen and has talked about the pain and suffering of cancer patients at the hospital. 70% of cervical cancers are caused by HPV. A couple of months ago they did a special on the HPV vaccine, and then about the outcry of how people were upset about giving it to girls. My wife turned to me and said, our daughter is going to get that shot. I looked at her stomach and said, well she has to be born first I said with a smile. No, this is not up for discussion, our daughter will get the shot when she is old enough. The funny thing is that even though I am pretty conservative this wasn't something I was even contemplating keeping from her. Our daughter will be born sometime in the late March/early April time frame. My wife said that they have discussed this at work and that its no different then men over a certain age getting their PSA test. Anything and everything that can be done to prevent cancer. So when my daughter can, she will get that shot. As a father, I want her to have everything, and that includes a healthy happy life. The logic not to get this shot doesn't even make sense. So let me get this straight, people are worried that if you get a shot to protect you against one, count them one STD, that immediately the morality of their children will be compromised. Come one now. If they want to scare morality into their children, there are plenty of horrible diseases out there that are totally incurable, painful and deadly that can keep their kids in check. The upbringing and the environment and the love I give my children will present them a blueprint of morality. This is all a parent can do. Scaring your children into morality doesn't work, well strike that it works until they get into high school. A shot is not going to change your childs morality.

Edited February 4, 2007 by southsideirish71

[NorthSideSox72]

right. i forgot. steff doesnt think people are allowed to have opinions.

 

 

If you're going to type cast me, get it right.

Steff thinks people are allowed to have whatever they want to have, and doesn't attack them when they do.

 

And she also doesn't cry to the higher up's when she feels wronged...

 

And regarding your earlier response, for those comprehensively challenged, I did not offer support for MAKING all females get vaccinated.

Let's just end this mini-thread right there, please. Please stick to the topic, not the posters, so that we can keep the thread open.

 

This is a delicate topic - let's all try be sensitive to other views.

[Texsox]

My wife is an oncology nurse and she has seen and has talked about the pain and suffering of cancer patients at the hospital. 70% of cervical cancers are caused by HPV. A couple of months ago they did a special on the HPV vaccine, and then about the outcry of how people were upset about giving it to girls. My wife turned to me and said, our daughter is going to get that shot. I looked at her stomach and said, well she has to be born first I said with a smile. No, this is not up for discussion, our daughter will get the shot when she is old enough. The funny thing is that even though I am pretty conservative this wasn't something I was even contemplating keeping from her. Our daughter will be born sometime in the late March/early April time frame. My wife said that they have discussed this at work and that its no different then men over a certain age getting their PSA test. Anything and everything that can be done to prevent cancer. So when my daughter can, she will get that shot. As a father, I want her to have everything, and that includes a healthy happy life. The logic not to get this shot doesn't even make sense. So let me get this straight, people are worried that if you get a shot to protect you against one, count them one STD, that immediately the morality of their children will be compromised. Come one now. If they want to scare morality into their children, there are plenty of horrible diseases out there that are totally incurable, painful and deadly that can keep their kids in check. The upbringing and the environment and the love I give my children will present them a blueprint of morality. This is all a parent can do. Scaring your children into morality doesn't work, well strike that it works until they get into high school. A shot is not going to change your childs morality.

 

You are missing the point. It's not the decision to get or not get the shot. It is who should make that decision. Your wife and you *decided*. In Texas you have no right to decide that. Only the Governor has that obsolute right. The Governor will tell you what must be injected in your daughter and when. How dare you presume to make this decision? What makes you think you are even capable of making a health decision involving your own daughter? That is what is being crammed down our throats.

 

Health decisions should be made between the patient and their Doctor. For minors, their parents should also be involved. For the government to force drugs into someone's system is wrong.

[CrimsonWeltall]

For the government to force drugs into someone's system is wrong.

 

Just curious, Tex. What would your opinion be on forced vaccinations in a public health situation where an easily communicable disease broke out?

[Texsox]

Just curious, Tex. What would your opinion be on forced vaccinations in a public health situation where an easily communicable disease broke out?

 

As I stated in an earlier post, public health concerns are different than private health concerns. Polio, for example, can be transmitted casually. Same for measles, mumps, TB, etc. Look at flu shots. Clearly they can help a lot of people, but we allow each person to make that decision. For most young females it is the correct decision and like all preventative medicine, should be made available to anyone and everyone who chooses to take it. Both documented and undocumented.

 

And laws are only valid if society is willing, able, and equipped to enforce the law. Are we going to lock up parents who refuse? Hold down the child and force the needle in? What if the parents want to wait until more kids have been vaccinated instead of being part of the first wave?

 

If we are so willing to legislate what goes into the body to prevent this, why not legislate what doesn't go into the body to prevent this? How many would be lined up to defend the Governor if he spoke of the tragic nature of this cancer and issued a decree that made all pre and extra-marital sex illegal? After all think of the pain and deaths that could be saved.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Just curious, Tex. What would your opinion be on forced vaccinations in a public health situation where an easily communicable disease broke out?

 

Though that isn't the case here, it is a reasonable question and a logical place to steer this debate. Equally logical would be for those here who don't think the government should be legislating the medications we take to ask if it would be alright if the govermenment decided to force all kids to take Ritalin if it is deemed that school behavior and performance would improve.

 

Barring that sole hypothetical (thus far) instance of needing to quickly control a highly infectious contagion, I just don't think the government has the moral authority to sepercede the wishes of patients, their families and their doctors in these matters. As such, they shouldn't be granted the legal auuthority to do so either.

 

Requiring school-age kids to have certain immunizations before they enter the student population is separate matter, but even there we still see uncommon rare instances where some kids react negatively (getting sick and even dying). Indeed, benefit-to-risk analysis of several decades of these requirements are changing the way these immunizations arre approached now.

[Balta1701]

And now the fun begins.

Several key Republicans urged Gov. Rick Perry on Monday to rescind his executive order making Texas the first state to require girls to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

 

Lawmakers should have been allowed to hear from doctors, scientists and patients before the state implemented such a sweeping mandate, said state Sen. Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the health and human services committee.

 

"This is not an emergency," said Nelson, adding that she plans to ask Attorney General Greg Abbott for an opinion on the legality of Perry's order. "It needs to be discussed and debated."

 

Three other Republican lawmakers filed bills that would override the mandate, and several others were working on similar legislation.

 

Perry defended his decision, saying his fellow conservatives were wrong to worry that mandating the vaccine will trample parents' rights and promote premarital sex.

 

"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," Perry said in a statement. "If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"

 

Perry has ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules requiring Merck & Co.'s new Gardasil vaccine for girls entering the sixth grade as of September 2008. The vaccine protects girls against strains of the human papillomavirus that cause most cases of cervical cancer.

 

Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons, but critics say the order still interferes with parental rights.

 

"I don't think the government should ever presume to know better than the parents what to do with children," Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said.

 

Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls ages 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. And he ordered Medicaid to offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.

[kapkomet]

Jane! I think she's my state representative.